Should've put a smiley in there. Never could figure those things out.

I mean something like this: Some people like a very solemn, reverent funeral and other people like a rowdy one. I've been to both and honestly, I think my preference depends on what I know of the deceased.

One of my best friends is a retired Gunny Sgt and Vietnam veteran. He told me that when his favorite uncle, a NOLA channel-Irishman who moved-out in the 1930's, died one cold winter that they had a wake at his home inside of the levee in Point Coupee Parish, LA. They had his uncle all waxed-up nice and pretty in the small shotgun, heated by the crowd, lots of local whiskey and a fire roaring in the fireplace. It got so hot from the fire and "toasting", that his uncle's wax started melting so they carried the casket out on the porch to chill and solidify the wax. They drank to his life and death until he cooled down and then brought him back inside. That went on until almost daylight. Then they carried him into St Francisville and buried him behind the old Episcopal Church.

I'd have liked to have been there.

I also remember my Dad's funeral, which was nearly polar-opposite to that. It was a very formal military affair with his senior ROTC students as his pallbearers. I still remember those cadets, teary-eyed if you looked close, yet stoic as a detail.

It depends on the deceased and his or her style.